


Smudges and Highlights

by powerdragonmoon



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Awkward Flirting, Day 1 - Flirting/Bickering, F/M, Intern!Chloé, Makeup Artist!Nathanaël, chlonathweek2k17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 01:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11174394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/powerdragonmoon/pseuds/powerdragonmoon
Summary: Slightly based on a crack idea Karawek and I had, Nathanael is a poor struggling artist that ends up doing freelance makeup gigs for Gabriel and one day Chloe (a business/fashion intern?) somehow is asked to replace a model that didn't show up for work. Madness ensues.





	Smudges and Highlights

Nathanael muttered under his breath something about rich entitlement as he reached for another brush, flipping it easily in his hand as he turned back towards the model in front of him. With a few gentle strokes of highlighter he smiled letting her know he was done and that she was ready for hair.

The model left the chair and Nathanael huffed a big breath as he cleaned up his station, plucking the used brushes and placing them in a cup her keep aside for cleaning.

He reached for a few palettes, before reaching for the notes he was given on the look for today’s shoot.

In front of him he could hear the tap tapping of impatient heels. Nathanael frowned, stubbornly continuing on his way, trying his best to ignore the sound. He knew she was going to be apart of the shoot, but he was still in shock that the photographer had okayed having the new intern replace the missing model…of course Marinette wasn’t working today…and of course it was her.

_Chloe Bourgeois._

Chloe—who was currently tapping her heel away—glaring daggers at him as he continued to ignore her presence, going about his business, silently praying that she was not his next model.

“I hope you plan on cleaning those before using them on my face.”

She sat down in the chair opposite to him and he hung his head down in disappointment for the slightest of seconds, before turning back towards her with the smallest smile possible.

It looked more like a grimace.

“Hello Chlo,” he replied.

“It’s Chloe,” she shot back, crossing her arms and leaning back against the chair. An odd look fell across her features and for a second she looked confused and apologetic. But then her eyes narrowed for a moment, a look very familiar to Nathanael. She tilted her head to the side. “Do I know you?”

Nathanael scoffed in response, just about done after only speaking two words to her. “Yeah, I’m—“ he started.

But she quickly cut him off, “Kidding!” she said with a big smile, “Nathanael, of course I remember you! I knew you looked familiar! I could never forget that hair!”

Her smile was weird. It was too genuine and it was so foreign to Nathanael that he found himself speechless with absolutely no reply on his tongue. He stared at her for another moment before awkwardly clearing his throat. Straightening himself back up in the chair, he reached for the colour swatches of the photo shoot’s look before turning back towards Chloe.

“Oh, well,” he began, holding the sheet of colours up beside her face, “I didn't realize you were working here until today…”

“Yeah, I just started,” she ran a hand through her ponytail, just about the same as it was when they were younger and in school together, if not a bit longer. “I did some schooling out in New York and a few semesters in Madrid, but I finally landed an internship back here in Paris…and of course first week on the job and I’m already stepping in to fill in for a model!”

Nathanael blinked, a little shell-shocked and not quite understanding what he was hearing. Her tone was friendly and welcoming, something that didn’t quite fit his idea of Chloe Bourgeois.

“I, uh…”

“I mean I told the others…I’m not a model or a good fit for the shoot. I’m not tall enough! We need someone more mysterious—an actual model!! Someone with better colouring for this look, no?” Her hands brushed over the white and black pantsuit before continuing, “This sort of just washes me out.”

Pursing his lips in response, Nathanael looked back to the colour palette in his hand, staring back at the outfit in question. “Well…” he began, before dropping his hand down to his lap.

“See! I was right!” she said leaning back in the chair in slight defeat. “My first photo shoot as an intern and I’m going to mess it up!” Her hands flew through the air in defeat before she leaned forward holding her head. Nathanael barely caught her small whisper, “I wish Adrien was here…”

Still slightly shocked, Nathanael stared at the stranger in front of him. This was not the Chloe Bourgeois he remembered…not at all. While she still wore her long blonde hair in her signature ponytail, she had left her teenage years and the effect had somehow softened her once icy demeanour. Well at least past first impressions.

Her look of disappointment and failure threw Nathanael off completely from the task at hand.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he reached forward to pat her back reassuringly before catching himself and drawing back. She didn’t seem to notice, but she did look up tentatively from between her fingers. He waved at the swatches on his lap, “It’s sort of my job to make you look the part. We can give you a more warmer undertone to the smokey eye and be subtle with the highlighter…once you see yourself with the complete look, all you gotta do is fake it really.” With every word he seemed to draw her out from behind the shield of her hands, until her wide blue eyes stared up at him. He shrugged, “I would’ve thought you would be loving this sort of thing. The Chloe I knew loved the limelight.”

(What he had initially thought was that somewhere across Paris, a model was bound and duct tapped against their will and locked in a closet.)

But at his last comment she winced, clamming back up slightly and staring resolutely at the ground. Her hands fisted up on her lap, clenching and unclenching before they loosened and grabbed on to each other. She fidgeted in her chair.

“Yeah…” she said, “about that.” Her blue eyes pierced into his and he’s once more taken aback. “I-I was such…I was such a bee—well I wasn’t very nice back in school, was I?” She shakes her head before he could reply—with what, he has no idea. He looked away, unable to take the look of sincerity on her face any longer. She continued, “The things I did. The things I said. To you—to everyone. It was uncalled for and I am so sorry.”

Staring at the ground, Nathanael jumps at the touch of a hand on his. Never in his life had Nathanael pictured Chloe Bourgeois apologizing to him. He looks up to see Chloe leaning forward.

“I’m really sorry. I don’t deserve any forgiveness for the terrible things I did. And I totally get that. But I’d like it a lot if we are able to at least work together on amiable terms. And I’m sorry to have to put you through the effort of making me passable for a model.”

The warmth on his cheeks is probably just due to his shyness, Nathanael rationalized, he’s never been comfortable with people being so close, but for some reason he finds himself leaning forward, instead of away. His hand under hers twitches.

“It shouldn’t be that hard,” he whispers lowly, looking down at his feet. “You’re already beautiful.”

…

“Sorry?” she says once more, but this time it’s not an apology, it’s a question for repetition of what he had just said.

“Um! Nothing!” he looks down at his wrist, raising his hand out from under hers. He quickly realizes there’s no watch there as he continues, “but well we better get a move on! Can’t keep the photographer and everyone waiting, right?” He bursts up from his seat, the piece of paper on his lap falling to the floor and he immediately reaches for it—

—only to bump he’s head against Chloe’s, who had also leaned down to help.

“Oof!”

“Oh, sorry!”

“Sorry!”

It’s an awkward 20 minutes that pass by slowly of Nathanael doing Chloe’s makeup. His well practiced, artist hands shake and he has to unbutton the top two buttons on his collared shirt. The room is much too hot and his job entails him being very, very close to Chloe Bourgeois.

And it’s very distracting.

Following their literal bashing of heads—as opposed to their figurative bashing of heads from years long since past—the two remained relatively silent, barely communicating past the odd, “Can you tilt your head towards me?” and “Look up, please.”

Painfully, and eventually with a final dusting of powder, Nathanael steps back, staring at Chloe in the mirror, who has her eyes closed and looks every bit as beautiful as she did before, but now just a bit sharper, more camera ready. Every feature is enhanced and overemphasized. Nathanael knows how it’ll play out in a photo.

She’ll look amazing.

“Okay,” he says, “all done. You’re ready for hair.” Tentatively he steps back towards his desk as she cutely blinks open her eyes. She stared in awe at the mirror in front of her.

“Oh!” she peeped, a soft surprised reaction that seemed to hit Nathanael right in the chest. Her eyes met his for a moment in the mirror and he quickly looked away, fiddling with various brushes and items at his station. He felt himself blush and looked down at the concealer palette in his hand as if asking it for some cover-up for his shame.

She stood up and Nathanael straightened up from his leaning stance. Another bright smile bloomed across her face and the effect once more blinded him for a moment. She leaned forward, a hand reaching around him to his table where she picked up an eyeliner pen. The sudden close proximity—this time initiated by her, and not because of his job—set a thrill through his spine.

She smelled like flowers.

With eyeliner pen in hand, Chloe leaned back. She reached out a friendly hand towards him and Nathanael quickly accepted it before he realized she was taking it to write on the back of his palm—not for a handshake.

“Call me,” she said as she uncapped the eyeliner, “oh shit…this is definitely eyeliner, isn’t it?”

Nathanael laughed before reaching into a pocket to produce a pen, his body sort of just reacting on instinct while is brain sort short-circuited, “H-here!”

“Thanks,” she winked, taking his hand once more and quickly scribbling a number across it. “That wasn’t quite as smooth as I hoped.”

Nathanael smiled, shrugging to seem relaxed as he took a step back and bumped into his table. He flinched, trying to pass it off by leaning gently against it as he reached to grab any rolling bottles and rogue brushes. Once he felt like he had somewhat recovered, he crossed his arms. “Well, it worked fine for me,” he replied, waving a hand through the air and looking at the black scribble that now marked it.

“Alrighty…” she went on, handing him back his pen. “Thanks for the makeover!”

And then she reached forward once more, making Nathanael pause as her hand rested on his shoulder and she leaned upwards to press a quick and fleeting kiss to his cheek.

He froze.

“Oops!” she said as she leaned back, bringing a hand briefly up to her mouth, “I forgot you just did my lipstick! Sorry!”

Nathanael sputtered for a moment, looking down at her lips and back to her eyes…and then back to her lips. He couldn’t figure out what was more shocking, the soft touch of her lips on his cheek or that fact that she had said ‘sorry’ so many times he was starting to lose count. Wait. It was definitely the kiss thing.

“N-no, ummm,” he faltered, trying to inspect her makeup and getting distracted by the curve of her lips, “It’s fine! I don't see any smudging!”

“Oh good! But really, give me a call whenever.” She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear before pointing behind her. “So, hair is over there?”

“Mmmhmm”

She paused, tilting her head to the side and bringing her pointed hand to her ponytail, hand tangling in her blonde locks. “Wait,” she said, “’Mmmhmm’ you’ll call me? or ‘Mmmhmm’ hair is that way!?”

“Ummm…” Nathanael paused, finding that familiar spark in her eyes that brought him back to his teenage years. The sudden flood of déjà vu had him immediately put off at the idea of calling Chloe Bourgeois, his former high school tormenter. But the blush on his cheeks and the shy smile on her face told him that something had changed. She had apologized so sincerely and perhaps she had grown up in past few years. Nathanael knew he had changed a lot himself since then, and hopefully for both of them it was for the better.

“’Mmmhmm’ to both,” he replied, smiling wide, running a hand through his hair. “It was good to see you, Chlo.”

She quickly returned the gesture, smiling brightly and smoothing out her ponytail. “Likewise.”

Taking one last lingering look as she turned, a glint of light caught Nathanael’s eye against her ponytail. Pursing his lips slightly, he called out to her, “Wait, Chloe!” She turned back, “Before you head over you should probably take that clip out.”

Chloe paused mid turn, causing her blonde ponytail to swing across her back to land gracefully on her shoulders. “Oh?” she asked as her head tipped to the side. She brought a slightly confused hand up to her hair. And then she smiled, “Oh! It’s a comb.”

And with a wink she fluttered away. Nathanael immediately reached for his phone, dialling her number into his contacts, lest a makeup remover wipe smudge her number or something.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I DON’T EVEN KNOW! THEY ARE SO AWKWARD AND I LOVE THEM! 
> 
> Hope y’all are cool with a reformed Chloe, this—like all my writing ended up turning out VERY DIFFERENTLY then I originally planned! I’m hoping to have some time to come back to this au and write what I originally envisioned as a sort of AU of and AU…does that even make sense?? 
> 
> \--shrug--
> 
> Hope you all are enjoying Chlonath so far! I’m sure as hell having a great day!! =3=


End file.
